Suspenders



UNITED Starts artnr Ottica.

LOUIS CLARK, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

SUSPENDERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 343,797, dated J'une15, 1886.

Application filed December 2, 1885. Serial No. 184,418. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, LoUIs CLARK, of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee, and in the State of Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Suspenders; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to Suspenders, shoulder-braces, and similar articles of wearing-apparel; and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction, as will be fully set forth hereinafter.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front view of part of the back of a pair of Suspenders; and Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same parts, showing my invention in use. Fig. 3 is a view of the triangular connecting-plate. Fig. 4 is a detail of the buttoning-strap.

Heretofore Suspenders have been made with triangular connecting-plates of various styles, and having slots or openings for the web to pass through, one well-known forni having a slot parallel with the base, and two other side slots parallel with the oblique or diagonal sides of the triangular plate, which plate terrninates at the apex in a long hook bent back to aid in securing the web, as well as to receive the eye 0I' a similar but smaller plate designed to hold the smaller strap which is buttoned onto the trousers. vAnother form consists of a skeleton plate of wire or sheet metal, but with an oblong or oval loop rigidly secured to or made a solid part of the apex of the plate. Both these forms usually have the extreme base-edge of the triangle-plate offset or bent to a different plane from the rest of the plate, which results in the formation of a long loop at this end. Through this loop both ends of the web are passed, rendering the device thick and bunchy at this part, which effect is sought to be obviated by the osetting of the base-edge; but this leaves so much space that the web is not held Hatly and securely in place, and the wearer is liable in using these suspenders to put the right half of the web over the left shoulder, and Vice versa, thereby causingdiscomfort and inconvenience; and to remedy these defects in existing braces and suspenders is the principal object of my present invention.

A is my triangular connecting-plate, which is stamped out of sheet metal, and with the apex rolled over to form a curved loop, a, and receive therein a ring, B, the curvature of the said loop a being such that the said ring B will turn freely therein. At the base of the triangular plate A are two parallel slots, a ft2. The entire plate is of uniform thickness, and the end lies in the same horizontal plane with the rest of the plate, there being no raised or offsetted portion, as in the devices described.

In the putting together of the plate A and the web of my Suspenders the said web C is first passed from the left through the slot a2 from the under side of the plate A, and then brought over against the right-hand side and underthe plate and then over the left-hand side and through the slot c and off to the right, as shown in Fig. v1, and both ends being pulled tightly the union of parts is completed without any bunching of the webor opportunity for it to get loose, as each end of the web draws through a separate independent slot, and as the plate is nowhere raised or offsetted there is no loop formed in said slotted base end to allow of subsequent accidental disarrangement of the parts. Fig. 2 shows the appearance of the under or inner side of the suspender-that is, the part next the shirt of.

the Wearerwhenthe parts have been united as described. y

The strap D, which buttons onto the rear trousers7 buttons, is thus secured to place, the eXtreme points d2 dz of the ends ddhaving the button-holes Vin them (of ordinary style) are brought together with the under side of the `right end over the left, as shown in Fig. 1i, and

passed through the ring B, and then these ends are passed through the loop d', formed b v bending said straps, and the said ends are separated and pulled till a tight iiat knot is formed, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

In front buckles having loops or rings of ordinary construction are attached to the extreme ends of the web C, and other buttoningstraps D, secured in like manner therein, thus completing my Suspenders.

My plate A being entirely solid, except at the slotted base-edge, is much stronger and more durable than any skeleton or wire plate or frame can possibly be, and the curved rolled apex a is less liable to break than if simply rolled over without curve or than along loop or hook would be.

IOO

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In Suspenders, braces, and similar articles, the triangular plate A, formed of a solid flat piece of sheet metal of equal height and thickness throughout having curved parallel independent slots a a2 adjacent to and corresponding to the curved line of its base-edge, and provided at its apex with the rolled loop a, curved on the line of an arc corresponding to the arcs of the curved base-edge and slots aforesaid, in combination with the ring B, secured within said loop, and having free movement therein, substantially as set forth.

2. In Suspenders, braces, and like articles, the combination, with the plate A, of equal height and thickness throughout, and having parallel independent slots a a2 adjacent to its base-edge,and curved rolled loop a at its apex, of the ring B, and buttoning-strap D, knotted` therein, as shown, and the web C, each end of which draws throughaseparate and independent slot, and which is folded over the exterior side edges of the plate A, substantially as shown and described;

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wiscousin, in the presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS CLARK.

l/Vitnesses: n

H. G. UNDERwooD, MAURICE F. FREAR. 

